- Hershey says she supports International Women’s Day campaigns that feature transgender women.
- The campaign featured trans woman Faye Johnstone in a chocolate bar wrapper.
- The campaign sparked conservatives on social media calling for a boycott of the company.
Chocolate company Hershey said it supports an International Women’s Day campaign featuring transgender women.
A Hershey spokesperson said, “We value togetherness and recognize the strength that diversity creates.” Bloomberg. “For the past three years, our Women’s History Month program has been a comprehensive celebration of women and their impact. We are grateful for the countless people and meaningful partnerships behind these efforts. doing.”
As part of the Her for She campaign, Hershey is featuring transgender rights activist Fae Johnstone on a limited-edition chocolate bar wrapper in Canada. Johnstone is featured along with her four other Canadian women who are activists in their respective fields.
On Wednesday, Johnstone tweeted about the partnership. write in She grew up with a handful of transgender role models and hopes the campaign will “show transgender girls can dream big and change the world.”
Her tweet drew praise and support from some, but also criticism from conservatives and calls to boycott Hershey.
—Fae Johnstone, MSW (@FaeJohnstone) March 1, 2023
In response to the backlash, Johnstone said the negative response “shows how far we still have to go in the fight for feminist emancipation and transgender rights.”
—Fae Johnstone, MSW (@FaeJohnstone) March 2, 2023
Hershey did not immediately respond to an Insider’s request for comment sent outside of normal business hours. The company’s shares on Thursday rose 0.7 percent to close at $238.40.
Controversy over Hershey’s campaign followed another turmoil at M&M. For 2022, M&Ms have rebranded the look of their “spokescandies” mascots by swapping both brown and green women’s M&M’s shoes. Notably, the green M&Ms high-heeled boots have been replaced with sneakers.
The change irritated conservatives like Fox News host Tucker Carlson. He said the woman’s M&Ms “lost sexiness” with the new footwear.
M&Ms said in January 2023 that the company was having an “indefinite suspension from Spokes Candies” because it didn’t want to polarize people.